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Copyright 2009 Learn More Tagalog

The Filipino Language in Perspective

English

One of the best ways to be fluent in any language is to have a regular interactive session
with a native speaker of that language. Failing that, another alternative is to listen and
practice using the language using a recorded voice together with the written transcript of the
the recording. What we have here are lessons for using the second option.

Tagalog is the official language of the Philippines. It is also the language spoken by the
majority of Filipinos. While anyone can get along using English while staying in the
Philippines, foreigners who can talk in Tagalog will have a definite advantage over those who
are clueless about it. For example, you will be less likely to get scammed if you can
understand what the people around you are talking about. Immersing yourself deeper by going
into the intricacies of the Tagalog language will enable you to get better acquainted with the
culture and the thought patterns of the Filipinos. As with all other countries in the world,
having a firm grasp of the language spoken by its citizens can make your life easier and get
you farther in what you intend to do.

Knowing English would already give you an edge when learning Tagalog because a lot of English
words have been assimilated into Tagalog. The Philippines had been a colony of the United
States of America for several decades resulting in the adoption of certain aspects of the
American way of life giving way to American ideas getting embedded in the language as well.
The Philippines had also been colonized by the Japanese but only for a short period of time
leaving behind almost no influence on the Tagalog language.

Knowing the Spanish language can be useful if you intend to learn Tagalog. The Philippines had
been colonized by Spain for several hundred years and consequently a lot of Spanish words and
phrases have been deeply ingrained into Tagalog although their meanings have changed from
their original significance in the Spanish language. Some Tagalog words can be traced directly
to their original Spanish counterparts.

The Internet is awash with places where you can learn the basics of the Tagalog language. What
we have here are supplemental lessons that can hopefully help Tagalog language learners in
furthering their learning process or adding valuable insights that can help in greater
understanding and appreciation of the intricacies of the language. After all, languages do not
operate in a vacuum but rather expresses the culture that is using it.

Tagalog as a language is not as complex as the other languages. Unlike Spanish, verbs are not
as sensitive to the number of actors in the subject and they are also immune to any change
when the sense of the sentence is expressed in the negative. In Tagalog, the verbs are in most
cases conjugated only with respect to the time when the action or event is taking place. In
this sense, it would seem that Tagalog can be easier to learn than some other languages like
English or Spanish.

One thing that you will notice when you start learning Tagalog is the language's propensity to repeat some syllables or even whole words, primarily as a way of emphasizing some aspects of the concept as in for example the number of times an action is done or to simulate plurality in certain nouns. This is a peculiar quality of the Tagalog language as is the use of double negatives and the double indirect pronouns in Spanish.

No pretensions of being authoritative are being claimed by presenting the information provided
herein. Tagalog is here presented not as how it should be spoken or written in the correct way
but only how the native speakers are using them in their everyday life.

Vocabulary

wika - language pinakamamahusay - best paraan - way masanay - to be trained on
magkaroon - to have paguusap - talk kasama - with katutubo - native pinagaaralan -
being learned or studied magawa - to be done susunod - next makinig - to listen
paggamit - use of gumagamit - using naitala - recorded boses - voice kanyang - its
bersiyon - version mayroon - have leksiyon - lesson patungkol - about opisyal -
official nakararami - majority bagaman - although kahit - any marunong - who knows
maayos - well makagagalaw - can move ibang bansa - other countries may kakayahan - can
magsalita - to talk magkakaroon - will have tiyak - sure lamang - advantage ihahambing
- compared with magiging - will mahirap - difficult maloko - to get fooled
naiintindihan - understands sinasabi - what is talked about nakapalibot - around
pamamagitan - by pagsisid - to dive kalalilman - depths nakakaalam - have knowledge of
kultura - culture takbo - run isip - mind katulad - similar to iba - other mundo -
world pagkakaroon - having angkop - appropriate kasanayan - knowhow mamamayan -
citizen makatutulong - will be of help upang - in order to madali - easily
makapamuhay - to be able to live your life makarating - to be able to arrive malayo - far
gusto - what you like gawin - to do